Meta is reportedly seeking to revive a popular mid-2000s feature of TomTom Navigator by outfitting its ChatGPT alternative Meta AI with a range of celebrity voices.
According to Bloomberg and The New York Times, the social media giant is currently in talks with the uniquely voiced talents of Awkwafina, Keegan-Michael Key, and Dame Judi Dench, as it seeks to bring a little more personality to its personal assistant ahead of its September Connect event.
Meta AI to get a famous front-end with Hollywood voices
Last year's Meta Connect event saw the company's AI power multiple text-only celebrity-fronted chatbots, including a Snoop Dogg 'Dungeon Master', a true crime expert in Paris Hilton, and several other archetypes of characters using the likenesses of famous folk such as Kendall Jenner, Tom Brady, and Naomi Osaka.
Meta reportedly paid up to five million dollars for each celebrity's likeness to feature in these Meta AI personalities across a two-year duration. However, the company has already discontinued its chatbot experiment and is reportedly "racing" to close deals with Hollywood talents to secure the rights to their voices for a new project — potentially to feature as the wider voice of its Meta AI experience.
If successful, Meta AI will have been able to secure something that ChatGPT makers tried and failed to do (and may have potentially damaged all hopes of procuring again in the future) with its controversial "Sky" voice that very closely resembled that of actor Scarlett Johansson.
"Her."
In May of this year, OpenAI found itself in yet another spot of controversy after showcasing the new advanced voice features of GPT-4o by using a voice profile of "Sky" — which bared more than an uncanny resemblance to actor Scarlett Johansson.
The claims that ChatGPT's female persona was based on Johansson's voice only grew stronger after OpenAI's CEO posted a one-word tweet referring to the 2013 Spike Jonze film Her, in which Johansson voices the film's AI companion.
Johansson would later reveal that OpenAI had approached her months before the unveiling of GPT-4o over the possibility of voicing its latest version of ChatGPT, but had declined the offer. In turn, Johansson was left "Shocked" and "Angered" after hearing the "Sky" persona, claiming that her "Closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference" between the chatbot's voice and her own.
OpenAI has since removed the voice profile from its platform, but the company's underhanded tactics may have damaged the possibility of gaining the celebrity-fronted talents it originally sought, as well as made Meta's job all the more tricky with procuring its own.
Outlook
Bloomberg reports that while talks are going ahead with various celebrities over the use of their voice for the Meta AI platform, negotiations have been subject to several stalls while parties find agreement over terms of use.
While Meta is seeking to use celebrity voices for a fixed term in one of its projects, representatives are reportedly seeking stricter limits.
It's unknown if Meta has already managed to broker deals with other celebrities ahead of Connect 2024. However, if talks go ahead, it would seem that Meta is more than willing to splash the cash to bridge the struggle of negotiation and gain some big-name backing for its chatbot going forward.
As for what these celebrity voices will be used for, we'll likely have to wait for Meta's Connect event in September to find out in full.
